dispenser. >> willie -- >> did i tell you what? >> did you learn? >> thank national journal and margaret rossen for helping me. fantastic women yesterday. thank you very much. >> valerie, also thanks you for the talking points. and willie, also, a very special person's last day at "morning joe." >> it is, our great producer, core, does the week in review. everything on this show touched in some way by her. this is her last day. ashley, you are the greatest. >> we'll miss her. >> we will miss you. what time is it? >> "morning joe." stay tuned for chuck with luke. sunshine state of play. president obama heads to florida for two days of taking mitt romney to task over taxes. making medicare part of the pitch to swing seniors his way. five for fighting.

the romney sons open up about their dad, the pledge for the when you say and what they plan to do to win. why one of them calls him goofy. "jersey shore" meets georgia pine. newt gingrich and snooki together at last. good morning from washington, d.c. thursday, july 19th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." let's get to the first reads of the morning. president obama's sunshine state swing comes today as three new polls show the race is razor tight and declining confidence in the economy remains a president's biggest challenge. new polls of "the new york times" and cbs news and fox news and npr show it's margin of error race. 47% to 46%. 47% to 45%. the president's job rating underwater in two of the polls and the npr poll that shows him doing better than the other two still has him under 50%. why is obama facing such a tough

environment? voters feeling the sluggish economy and "the new york times" poll 39% said they approve of the handling of the economy. 55% disapprove. that's up seven points of april. the president will try to introduce a new line of attack in florida. he stops in jacksonville and west palm beach today. ft. myers and orlando today. according to the obama campaign, the president swinging on medicare saying romney would end medicare as we know it and turn it in to a voucher program. in ohio wednesday, romney scrapped much of the stump speech and escalated the attack on the president for suggesting that business owners owe their success to government investment. the president's awkward "you didn't build that" line. >> let me ask you this. did you build your business? if you did, raise your hand. take that, mr. president. >> the romney campaign is out

with a new web video this morning pushing that point. >> if you got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> my father's hands didn't build this company? my hands didn't build this company? my son's hands aren't building this company? >> but the negative stories on romney's taxes and his time at bain are not going away. "the l.a. times" reporting bian capital started with offshore investors and tapped a roster of investors raising a third of the first $37 million investment fund from wealthy foreigners. most of the foreign investors' money came through corporations registered in panama. and then known for tax advantages and unusual banking secrecy. in an interview with abc news this morning, anne romney was asked to respond to thebain attacks and she came out

swinging. >> i was beneath the dignity of the office of the president to do something as egregious as that. to attack somebody on that level is i believe beneath his dignity. >> nbc's senior political editor mark murray is here. he joins me now. and mark, fascinating numbers on the polls. we'll put it up there. 47-46. obama 47-41. razor thin race and obama seems to be just brought down by his handling of the economy. can't shake it. >> luke, there are two forces at play which show why the polls pretty much are the same. that this race is essentially tied or deadlocked, however you want to describe it. the economic forces keeping president obama down, but also, the fact that people aren't yet still sold on mitt romney. and these two forces are at play right now which explains why we see president obama up two or three points up in one poll.

overall i don't think the race will budge until we get past the conventions and probably even past the debates. >> anne romney came out this morning playing the role of clarifying the husband's position of bain and taxes. she said this and then i want your reaction. >> you should really look at where mitt has led his life and been financially. he is a very generous person. we give 10% of the income to the church every year. do you think that's a person trying to hide things? no. as governor of massachusetts, didn't take a salary in the four years. you know, he is a person -- >> why not show that then? why not run -- it's moot point. >> there are so many things that will be open again for more attack. >> and while ann romney is saying we're very generous to the church, there are articles like we saw in "l.a. times" and a report showing mitt romney

running the olympics bain ceo listed on the title. this story is not going away s. that how to blunt it? >> she has been a campaign and effective way i think. the last three weeks taught us about the romney campaign and decided to deflect the charges on bain attacks. fighting back. two, they're changing the subject. and three, they still haven't answered the questions and on the tax returns, we saw more republicans yesterday call for the release of the tax returns prior to 2010. as you mentioned that "l.a. times" story on bain capital and buzz feed mentioning the salt lake games listed mitt romney president and ceo of bain capital. the questions don't go away any time soon. might not pop up tomorrow or next week but after the conventions romney campaign still isn't able to answer them. >> president obama is in florida today talking about medicare, going to try to bring that line

of attack back up. successful in the past with democrats with the budget. other thing to talk about is veep stakes. there's rumors of chris christie to be the keynote speaker and in theory probably take him away from being vp. any new update on that? >> usually the keynote speaker isn't the vice president. you can't do the same thing and why people are crossing chris christie off the list. i think the front-runners remain the same folks we have been talking about for a while. tim pawlenty, bobby jindal, maybe jon thune and paul ryan, the guy whose budget the president will mention in florida. >> i was watching tv last night. american cross roads ads coming in heavy in the virginia ad market. we mentioned yesterday, two to one advantage for team romney. is that going to ratchet it up going forward? seems like with a bad week they rescue them. is that something to see in the

rest of the election? >> outside groups helping the team romney have an outspending effect on the advertising and seeing obama ads on the air waves, too. ever since 2008, for those of us living in washington, d.c., next door virginia is a battleground and seeing it. >> good to finally see them. we never saw the political ads. thank you. appreciate it. the united nations security council will vote in the next hour on new sanctions against the syrian government that may be too tough to secure russian support. the vote comes as new reports whether the president assad is hiding. nbc's eamon mohadine joins me now. how much ground did the rebels gain yesterday? there's reports of opposition forces say assad in the coastal city. we can't confirm that. but is the assad government on

the run at all right now? >> reporter: well, there's no doubt by many assessments the abad government is fighting for survival and the ways to measure that. large parts of the country are in the hands of the rebels. not under the control but they feel more emboldened after yesterday's attack to move freely city to city and more importantly they have brought the fighting to the seat of assad's power in the capital damascus itself with running gun battles taking place in the heart of the city. there are reports that, in fact, they have also taken over the border control or border crossing point between iraq and syria. the president himself, whereabouts unknown. not spoken publicly after yesterday's attack. there are reports based on eyewitnesss and other activist reporters that he is in the coastal city of latakia. perhaps preparing for the military. >> with this u.n. vote today, we don't expect russia to lend

their support. correct? >> reporter: that's correct. all indications are that russia will not support a tougher u.n. resolution sanction to call on president assad to step down from power and the united nations to enforce that. that's the sticking point. not that they disagree with the political transition but a resolution calling for that transition and then goes so far as to enforce it is something that russia would not accept thinking it paves the way for an international military intervention in the country. >> ayman, thank you so much for joining us. we should mention that president obama had a conversation with president putin saying that russia needs to be on the right side of history. we'll obviously see how that vote plays out. most likely not going to happen, though, as russia doesn't want to be on the side of removing a powerful central leader as that's something that's pressing in their history. a few good days on wall street has the dow approaching the 13,000-threshold once again. but will earnings report and new

economic numbers provide the necessary boost for investors? becky quick is here for the market rundown. what do we know, becky? >> luke, it is a mixed picture today. the dow will open understand once again -- you mentioned the run of good days. this morning opening up by 50 points and that's up pretty significant. s&p 500 sitting an at two and a half-month high and watching the numbers closely and things turned around. part of that has been because of the earnings picture. ibm reported earnings and the street looked at the guidance thinking maybe things aren't slowing down as much as we expected in technology and got us off on the right foot and since then we have lousy earnings reports or at least not as great as expected and jobless claims numbers. jobless claims up to 386,000. that is above the 352,000 from last week. and it's above the 365,000 that people were expecting this time around. so that's a huge concern.

jobs picture's always the biggest factor particularly looking at the election and going to mean shaping up. and we did take a look at that. jobless claims, morgan stanley and verizon came in lower than expected, actually morgan stanley lower and verizon with numbers in the fios editions weaker than expected so the stocks are down and looking at the markets opening up about 50 points higher and we'll see if the gains continue towards the opening bell. >> 50 points higher but the jobless claims above 375,000, that will give a lot of poise to 1600 p p avenue. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. promises, promises. they're easy to make but tough to keep. what does mitt romney really plan to do making it to the white house? we'll talk to the campaign next. plus, a straight talk express barrels in to the capital. john mccain takes to the floor and takes on a fellow republican, michelle bachmann.

we'll take you out with kenny loggins. the president's in florida. the home of golf. mitt romney in boston. strategizing. whoa, look at all those toys.

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if a nation has massive debts that ultimately become overwhelming to the overall economy, it slows down the rate of growth of the economy and that means fewer jobs. and therefore, i will do what is necessary to finally get america a balanced budget. [ applause ] >> mitt romney makes one heck of a campaign promise. vowing to balance the budget within eight years.

at the same time, the heart of his economic plan is a series of tax cuts including a 25% reduction for corporations and cuts to the marginal tax rates, as well. how do you do both in tara wall is adviser for the romney campaign and joins me now. thank you so much for coming on the program. >> absolutely. thank you for having me. >> balanced budget by 2020. we have a deficit. how do you do that? >> there are a number of thing that is governor romney said he would do. lower the marginal tax rate across the board and tax breaks to all americans. not just certain americans but to all americans. of course, repeal and replace obama care. i think that would right away do away with the $500 million that in new taxes that the current administration enacted on american people under that act and again you have to look at some of the spending cuts and stream lining government overall. >> when we look at the numbers, when we crunch them, he wants to increase defense as part of gdp from 3.8% to 4%.

that's increase in defense spending. build 15 navy warships. tax cuts would go down from 35% to 28%. the nonpartisan committee for responsible budget said this. estimated roughly, ignoring interactions and microdynamic effects we find that without offsets romney's plan on the whole would increase the debt by about $2.6 trillion. what are the offsets? what are we specifically going to do to balance the budget? >> i believe americans hearing more about governor romney's plan and to see in depth the plan you can research that and look at that more in depth, but overall, number one, there have been a number of new regulations, overzealous regulations on businesses, small business es across the country and we have to look at those things and again we have to look at where our growth comes from and where the economic recovery comes from. and that is our small business. >> regulations on small

businesses, if you eliminate -- >> not maligning the small businesses and not demoonizing our small businesses and this administration has done. i think when you look at the comments just recently made about the president, when he said that these hands, these small business hands, entrepreneurs like me is something that we didn't do ourselves. that we had to have the help of the government and i think there are folk that is look at it as a displaced way to not look at the real issues of how we deal with -- >> okay. but if you cut the cuts and regulations, they're in the billions. we are talking trillions with a "t." nonpartisan. increase the debt. mr. romney's plans. why are there no specifics? you want to talk about big ideas and not the bain an enthe tax issues. i'm asking you specifically. >> yeah. >> how does mitt romney's plan balance the budget by 2020? >> if you look at the economic numbers, i'm not an economist and not going to play an

economist, i do believe that mitt romney has a proven record of bringing economies back. he brought down unemployment as govern governor. he created jobs as governor. he was effective as a business person overall and i think you have to apply the principles. when you have someone with a record and understands the concept of growing this economy through businesses and streamlining and savings and all of these things, i think you have to take it to account and look at that and see how he'll apply it to the country overall. you can't discount that and the fact that we have to be able to look at how we begin solving the debt problem and bringing the problems down. and to do that, number one, is to start with streamlining our tax code, bringing down the marginal tax rate, the regulations that have been overburdensome and making real, true spending cuts. >> we can have a conversation but the romney economists i hope the campaign provides them some day. let's talk about communications

here. interesting numbers, "the new york times"/cbs poll. who do the policies favor in romney, rich, 53%. middle class, 11%. obama, rich, 21%. middle class, 22%. 24%, romney 2% favor the poor. equal 25% to 30%. interesting numbers. mitt romney viewed by the public even ahead in the poll by one point as being in favor of the rich. how do you tamper that? >> listen. polls are just what they are. you know, they are snapshot in time and they vary. i think at the end of the day if you look at some of the recent polling relative to how governor romney would handle the economy a majority of americans right now feel that he would be better at handling the economy and i think as we go on in these next few months and people hear and learn more about governor romney and what the plan is for america and bringing jobs back, creating jobs and bringing this country back, i think they'll come to

understand who mitt romney is and what his vision is for america overall. and i think there's a stark contrast, again. when you look at the government's approach to wanting to handle the problems of america, i think that's not the right approach. governor romney's approach is a better approach and i think americans will understand that overall. >> governor romney will embark on a trip aboard, london, israel. he was asked around capitol hill in regards to the afghan policy. lindsay graham, he was asked by the media mr. romney's afghanistan policy. he goes, what is it? i think romney's policy is listen to the commanders and if that's that, it's okay with me. does mitt romney have to have a more specific policy on afghanistan prior to going on to this trip? >> well, you know, look. i think that overall -- overall governor romney has been clear about the plans and about this trip and what his goals are and i think that when we look at

protecting and securing the homeland, that's something he's articulated over and over again. i won't get in the details of that. i'm here to talk about the job situation, the economy, the growth. that we need and what this governor is planning on doing in that regard and what this president has failed to do. we are, again, at 41 straight months of 8.2% unemployment overall. we have millions, 23 million people out of work, underemployed. this is what we need to talk about and the issues to be talking about and how this president has failed to address that, has failed to talk about that and continues to malign small business. that's what i'm here to talk about and continue to focus on. this campaign will focus on. we need to get people back to work and talk about the issues and i think this president's failing to do so. unfortunately, it's disappointing that the attacks, these recent attacks on all these issues outside of the issues relative to mitt romney are diverting away from what

real americans want to talk about and real americans want to talk about getting back to work. >> it is fire say real americans want to talk about paying down the debt. >> absolutely. there's plenty of time to learn more about the candidates. there's plenty of time to learn and hear from the candidates when he goes in to the cities and the towns and hears from real americans about the issues, they're disappointed that the president has yet to understand where our economy, how to grow our economy and where these jobs come from. and that's our job creators. >> thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> love to continue. up next, a hollywood superstar drops a million dollars in the presidential race. plus for us political nerds, there's something new to like about facebook. supreme court justice scalia speaks out for the first time since the landmark health care ruling. first, today's trivia question. which foreign capital is named after a u.s. president? tweet us. the first correct answer gets a

follow thursday. the answer and more coming. time for your business entrepreneur of the week. ohio based interior designer was doing well serving big corporate customers and passing on smaller kleins. she had to rethink the business plan. thinking big and small. she made sure every customer knew they were valuable to her. for more, watch sunday morning. if you are one of the millions of men

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get 10% off or up to 24 months special financing on carpet purchases with your home depot credit card. on our radar this morning. tragedy in bulgaria. supreme statements on money and politics and another political encounter for snooki. getting the first look at the man at the heart of the bulgarian interior ministry believes is responsible for the explosion that killed six and wounded dozens of others. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu calling it an iranian terror attack. leaders of iran say the links to the attack is unfounded. president obama spoke with prime minister netanyahu reaffirming the commitment to israel's security. facebook is a new home for voter registration. users in washington state will soon have the ability to

register on the website. an application will be located on the secretary of state's page and should be up and running next week. supreme court justice scalia told piers morgan no bad blood between him and chief justice roberts over the health care ruling. morgan freeman is helping president obama try to keep pace with republican jouds groups donating $1 million to the priorities usa super-pac saying that the president has done a quote remarkable job under historically difficult circumstances and newt gingrich hit it off with snooki last night on "the tonight show." here's a quick look at how friendships are made. >> newt, snooki. snooki, newt. >> i know. >> what a deal. >> what up? >> saw interviews on the first book. >> really? >> congratulations on having two "the new york times" best sellers. >> thank you. trying to be like you. >> no. >> well. >> i got nothing after that.

up next, on the family, why four out of four mitt romney's sons didn't want their dad to run for president. scorched earth. will speaker boehner take the farm bill off the shelf? ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

the five romney brothers, craig, ben, josh, matt and tagg could soon become america's first sons and they're sitting down for the first television news interview of the 2012 campaign. nbc's peter alexander talked to the brothers about their family, their faith and why some of them didn't want their father to run again this year. peter joins us now to talk about this exclusive that's going to show up on "rock center." what did you find out about the romney sons? >> frankly, i don't think many americans heard the five of them speak before. they all have that same sort of

chiselled romney look. they're smart, smooth looking as we said and disciplined surrogates for their dad. they clearly recognize these are high stakes and witnessed the downside of that that comes with the scrutiny, too. one of the questions i asked them was specific about the moments of their dad, including a time when i think he said i like being back in michigan because the trees are the right height. what does that mean? here's what they said. >> he's a little goofy and that's part of his charm, i think. >> we were with him recently and said i was gs a fine looking add this picture. >> i lost it. i was completely gafine. >> he was with you saying i love them like they're my own sons and they are my own sons. >> i love them like they're my own and they are. craig? >> thanks, dad. >> same corny jokes we grew up with. it's part of his personality.

>> they say they talk to their dad several times a week. they're not together very often and made the opportunity to sit down with the five of them, luke, so unique. the fact that four of the five sons didn't want their dad to run again this go around. i asked them why that was and matt said, specifically, he said, you know, i thought, dad, you did your best in 2008. it didn't work out. let's do other things now. but now, obviously, they have come around. >> peter, they're obviously great looking family. they're very smart kids. politically ambitious? do any of them perhaps have a future following their father in to the political life? >> that's a good question. josh, the tall one, the middle son. he's a one that they think he has the aspirations. others say perhaps tagg the oldest is interested in doing that. you keep your eyes on josh. he's the one whose name will likely come up ahead in the

years. >> perhaps we'll interview josh romney in a few decades. thank you for being on the show. >> sure. >> watch the full report on the romney 5 continue on "rock center with brian williams" on the local nbc station. there's no relief in sight as the most widespread drought in more than 50 years is worse with each passing day. punishing heat and lack of rain devastated crops of california to the midwest, as far north as michigan. farmers have seen more than a third of all corn and soybean crops wither and die in the fields. it's left the agriculture secretary vilsack with few options. >> i get on the knees every day an i'm standing an extra prayer now. if i had a rain prayer or rain dance i could do, i would do it. but honestly, right now, the focus needs to be on working with congress. they have the capacity to help

these producers by creating greater flexibility in the programs, providing direction in whether disaster assistance is provi provided. >> debbie stabenow chairs the agriculture committee and joins us now. thank you for being on the program. >> sure. good to be with you, luke. >> the drought impact on michigan corn crop, 56% of corn crop in poor or very poor condition. five counties eligible now for disaster aid. let's talk a little bit about this. obviously, an issue that's not affecting the media center but folks are feeling real pain in the heartland. what if anything can the federal government do to alleviate some of the suffering in the midwest? >> well, luke, you are absolutely right. actually, between the drought and early warmth and then refreezing, with our orchards, 72 out of 83 michigan counties are declared disaster right now. we have almost 1,300 counties

across the country which is about a third of the country and it's growing every day. so, what do we do? we need to pass a farm bill. we passed a bipartisan farm bill already in the senate. by the way, only deficit reduction proposal that we have actually voted on and passed. 23 billion. a lot of reform. and in there, tools to deal with the immediate situation and going forward. so, the house passed a bipartisan bill out of committee. right now in the speaker's lap. the speaker needs to bring it up on the floor and frankly add adisal disaster assistance for 2012 but we have to get this done. >> are you confident that the senate would pass the house farm bill with the food stamp cuts in it that both sides agreed to out of committee? >> no, we will not, but we'll be happy to negotiate in a conference committee. we took a very different route,

luke. we said we want integrity. we want to aggressively tackle fraud and abuse and we did. we saved about 4 billion going after things like lottery winners who were actually getting food assistance and things that made no sense and the states doing to misuse programs but we kept intact food help for people that need it. people in michigan that lost their job because of a plant closing paid their taxes the whole life and mortified they need food help but they do and most people get help less than ten months and critical to feed their family so we want people who need help to get help in the house. they went much too far and they're going to be hurting people. >> part of the rhetoric and what chairman lucas said is moved a bill forward through the house that not a lot of conservatives were okay with, with the hope to get through the senate. knowing how conservative the house gop is, if this is the

best to get and give help and disaster relief to farmers, why not push it forward and have a bipartisan win? >> well, luke, first of all, i know we can do better. we can come to agreement in a conference committee. the proposals in the house bill have actually been rejected some of them twice on the senate floor. and so, but it's like anything else in governing. if the house gives us a bill, we'll negotiate. we'll come together in the middle. that's what good governing is. what's what solving problems is but the house has to act to do that. i'm confident to work with chairman lucas and ranking member peterson. senator roberts and i have worked very closely. but all across america today, folks need economic certainty. they need food security certainty. and now, we need disaster help. >> could you take a temporary extension of current policy if that's the best speaker boehner can provide? >> i don't think that's a good idea at all. it does nothing for the

disasters. when we're talking about over a third of the country right now under a disaster declaration. that doesn't help anybody. >> michigan's -- >> ypt i don't want to see that >> thank you. we appreciate it. >> thanks, luke. the political panel bb here next. we're digging deeper in to how the economy is shaping this race. senator john mccain goes after one of his own. but first, the white house soup of the day. roasted red pepper. i like roasted red pepper. i like it in hummus, on my french fries and in my soup. big fan of roasted red pepper. don't forget you can always find the show on facebook. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. take it out! the song, i like it. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing

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the latest polls are consistently showing a dead heat between president obama and mitt romney. but take a look at the president's standing in these "the new york times"/cbs news polls. president obama's approval rating dropped from 48% to 44% since april. also, the president's unfavorable rating at 48% with a favorable rating of 36%. jennifer reuben with "the washington post" and a cnbc contributor and karen finney, former dnc communications director and msnbc political contributor and raju nabu is a panelist. let's talk about the poll numbers. one to jump out at me, handling of the economy. president obama, now, approve 39%, disapprove 55%. and in april, it was 44-45. we see there's a crisis in consumer confidence. jobless claims above 375,000. karen finney -- >> you were going to do that. >> there is a -- there is a big

wave coming. >> yeah. >> it is the economy. >> yeah. >> how do you get out from underneath this? >> it's obvious. this is baseline narrative of now and november. we have a number of jobs reports. that's not going away. i think the fundamental question both campaigns are trying to make the campaign about is who do you trust on the economy? again, the president is trying to get out there and make an argument. i'm not surprised to see the numbers where they are. within the margin of error, midsummer. this is about the time to sect -- >> 39-55 doesn't surprise you? >> i tell you what. it doesn't because, look, it's the middle of the summer and frankly i would be more concerned if this was august, september. frankly, i don't think i put much stock in poll until august or september. >> what i found interesting is that nearly two out of three voters in that poll hold obama partially or in great deal responsible for the economy and that's a change. i think the obama people banking

on blaming it on bush or unforeseen factors and that's not working and the voters beginning to hold him accountable and a very dangerous place for him to be. it's one thing for the economy to be bad and other thing for the voters to say and it's your fault. >> and the ownership is now -- >> yes. >> -- pressing to president obama. on the hill, it's certainly seems like there's no legislation to affect these jobs numbers, the economy numbers. we have pretty much closed shop. correct? >> that's right. there's political votes set up. we have votes next week to extend the bush tax cuts. democrats want them to expire on folks making more than $250,000 and that's going to be strictly designed to set the ra pa ram ters of the political debate. nobody expects anything mayor to happen but approaching the fiscal cliff at year end and one thing to have a chance is serious talks of how to reverse the defense cuts and other domestic program cuts and one thing -- >> a temporary punt.

>> two things. even with the numbers, romney's relatively even with obama. can't pull away and can't underestimate the impact of money spent against president obama by the outside groups so -- >> vastly outspending the romney campaign. spent about $100 million to no effect. >> if you count the super-pacs, 2 to 1 in terms of ads. >> may be having an impact. >> two things. first of all, for the challenger to be tied with the president who has 100% name recognition and obama this low on the top number says to me a trouble. well, if your presidential candidate has 100% name recognition, well, well below 50%, that's a problem. second thing on the defense sequestration cuts, you are absolutely right. the problem with those for the administration is those notices go out to all those defense contractors in the fall and you will have another wave of people being laid off. >> the story on the hill is

talking to members, manu, states, ohio, virginia, florida, carolina, all with big defense contracting industries. that has folks on both -- in both sides on capitol hill worried. that's tough for the incumbent no matter who he is. >> that's why there's a serious chance to get something at least a temporary some cover, something to prevent the layoff notices from going out because if you're a democrat or a republican, you don't want voters who have a layoff notice going to the polls. >> come back. manu, there, thank you. trivia time, which foreign capital is named after a u.s. president? the answer, monrovia. named for president james monroe. thanks to john weber, sending the question. do you have a political trivia question to be on the show? e-mail us. we'll be right back with more of this power panel on a thirsty

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the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated american and a loyal public servant. >> that was senator john mccain on the senate floor giving a lengthy statement in defense of huma abedin, a long time aide to hillary clinton. mccain denounced allegations by republican michele bachmann that abedin's family was connected to muslim ex trooemists. let's bring back the panel. karen, i'll go to you off the bat. huma was your intern, you told me. >> in our office, yeah.

>> does this fire up the democratic base that john mccain comes to the defense of a senior aide to hillary clinton with this investigation, almost mccarthyism in a sense that she's connected to muslim extremists. >> for someone like me who has known her almost 20 years, it's horribly offensive. if you know her heart and her character. but also, it's really disgusting to see this kind of zeen phobia coming out now. it's not just the whole thing with bachmann and huma. it's about the press conference about proving the birth certificate isn't true and sununu take -- when you go to racist -- >> is this a problem for the gop and what do you do about michele bachmann come convention time? there's a lot of folks that she's a darling to. >> john sununu immediately apologized said he was referring

to his conception of wealth creation, american enterprise. to your question, i don't think this is a party way problem. michele bachmann will be a michele bachmann. but i think they have to be careful about who is on the stage and what they say at the convention. this is no different than any convention. we have to be very careful about who you send out to portray the image of the party. once they put that person out there on the stage, then there is some ownership that has been -- >> there is a percentage of the republican party that still believes that this president is not an american citizen, that is still pushing this whole ideology about him being a muslim as if that's an evil bad thing. you guys, the people who are doing it no what they're doing, it is dog whistle politics. nobody but john mccain has had the courage to stand up -- >> no. >> two questions for you. you think the folks on the hill who are bachmann supporters and from this ilk, has john mccain

come back to maverick status? >> he will still be a thorn in the side of the obama administration for as long as the president is in office. he's a guy when something is under his skin, he'll speak out. you've seen him do that from time to time. i think this will sort of end any -- anyone who is thinking about joining michele bachmann on this effort on the republican side, now that john mccain has spoken out. shameless plugs, quickly. >> scott wong and i have a story on politico on the new hampshire senator fighting this lawsuit, this little known lawsuit. spent about $120,000 in legal fees over the last year. >> karen? >> prayers to david mercer, he was attacked on the hill last weekend. democratic strategist. he's doing a lot better i'm happy to say. >> good. >> out of a coma. off the ventilator. hoping for a continued recovery. >> get well, david. >> if you're in d.c. go to the arena stage theater. there's a fabulous revival of music man. a shameless plug to larry,

one of the capitol hill security guards who has a crush on karen finney. i mention that on tv. larry, that's for you, buddy. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." chuck will be back here tomorrow to close out the week. thank you so much to the team for having me these last six shows. it's been a real pleasure. thank you for tuning in. up next on msnbc, chris jansing & co. that's it for the day. the goat back in this chair tomorrow. take care. gal matters. legalzoom has an easy and affordable option. you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support, backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer.